Auf Achse
by Miss Anne Thropy
Summary: Remy and Jono finally get through their barriers and start a relationship that is threatened by past loves and fate itself, testing the bonds that they have forged to their utmost limit.


Notes: Quick thanks to all that are reading this, I will be going away on Dec. 14 til the 18. I've already got the other part done, I will be posting it before I leave. And as always, the characters don't belong to me, they belong to Marvel and the song belongs to Sam Roberts. The title is from Franz Ferdinand. Enjoy.

"_Got lost on the way but you found the road again  
Stay true to your friends 'cause they'll save you in the end_

_There must be something in the air, in the air  
Some kind of answer to my prayers, to my prayers  
Some kind of answer to my prayers_

_I've been dying since the day I was born  
'Cause there's no road that ain't a hard road to travel on "-Sam Roberts_

Jono sat on the bed and watched the patterns change as the light played through the curtains. He had wrestled himself from his bed-mate's nearly suffocating grip a few minutes ago and was just getting used to being awake again. He also needed a fag like he needed oxygen, but he knew that Rems would be gutted if he bunked off while he was off having a kip. Not that he needed to ask permission from Rems to go anywhere, but he knew that the other lad had gotten used to waking up next to him. And even if he didn't want to admit it to anyone else, it was absofuckinglutely, true that he liked it as much as Rems did.

To push the need for nicotine out of his mind, he then turned and rolled over onto his side. Propping himself up on his elbow, he watched as Rems slept. His hair was spread over the pillow, softening the knife sharp features of the angular face. He wouldn't admit it under pain of death, but he liked to openly stare at the other man as he slept. There was a quiet, almost crushed beauty to the man that wasn't there when he was awake. It was as if once he rejoined the living, the sheer vitality of his personality obscured it away and the only way to capture it was in the stillness of sleep.

The tableau didn't last long, since Remy always seemed to know when Jono was watching him. Sure enough, after a few minutes Remy stirred and opened one black and red eye and rolled onto his back, turning his head towards Jono.

"Mornin' luv." Jono greeted Remy as the older man reached out sleepily and ruffled his long, chestnut hair. Hair that he had been making mental notes ages ago to cut. Eventually.

There was nothing sexual in their sharing a bed. After that afternoon that they had forced each other to strip the masks and the plastic façade that they had presented to the world, they had decided to open the doors of their mutual prisons to each other. Although it had was mutually understood that Jono was welcome in Remy's room and vice versa, it was a slow process for either of them to start taking the initiative. Months passed before they stopped visiting at night and only in the woods. But one night, Remy had come to Jono's room and stayed the night, things had begun to proceed at a steady pace. At first, they would alternate, but now, Jono more often than not found himself in Remy's room. His room was now simply storage for his not so personal effects and his stereo. Otherwise, he shared Remy's bed.

He figured it would have been awkward, sleeping next to an older bloke. He had tried sharing beds with either Angelo or Paige and they had all come to the conclusion that he needed to sleep alone. He either ended up kicking them in his sleep, shoving them out of his bed or trying to smother them. He had expressed his fears to Remy, who had only shook his head and told him to shut up and get into bed.

He had done as he was told and climbed in, lying stiffly at first as he waited for the other man to stop moving around and finally fall asleep. He felt he had waited for what seemed an eternity for Remy to finally find a suitable position before finally drifting off and was about to sink into sleep himself when an arm snaked around his waist. Before he could think about reacting, Remy's legs also wrapped themselves around his, leaving him feeling like he had been attacked by an octopus.

After the initial shock and embarrassment had worn off, he found out that he didn't mind having Remy plastered over him. He was aware of the sheer amount of trust it took on the other man's behalf to actually let him sleep beside him, never mind being that physical with him. He knew that the Cajun needed physical contact like he needed oxygen and that his imposed isolation had taken a severe toll on him. Besides, the shared body heat wasn't a bad side benefit either, since he was aware that Remy was often cold and even though it was a small thing, it made him feel good that he could do that for him.

"Morning, Cher." Remy greeted him, sitting up and shaking his own messy hair out of his eyes, making Jono's mouth go dry. He turned away and thought about Margaret Thatcher in an effort to calm the impressive panhandle that was straining against his trousers.

"Are ye trainin' today?" Remy asked as he climbed over Jono and landed on the floor with a soft thump.

"Uh…yeah, luv." Jono finally managed to grind out into the pillow. After Remy had done his pole-vaulting trick, he had rolled over and buried himself in the mattress and thought doubly hard about Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He wasn't going to ruin the tentative friendship that they had entered in by jumping him without knowing whether Remy wanted more from him. He had already fucked up enough times. He didn't want to add this to the long list.

He also didn't want to be thoughtless and drive Remy away into his own demons once again because he couldn't keep himself from acting like an over-eager school-boy.

So he suffered in silence and thought about the damned moose until he was sure he was colder than one of the saints in Westminster Abbey.

"Wot about you luv? Ye got somefin' goin' on?" Jono asked, getting out of bed once he was sure that he was decent.

"Oui. Logan's offered t' do some trainin' wit' me. Said even if Remy be blind, dat's no excuse for me to let my skills go." Gambit replied as he disappeared into the adjoining lavatory.

"Oh? Awright then. Tis good ye're getting' oot luv. No sense in bein' a Billy no Mates all over." Jono told him as he walked over to the loo and watched as Remy got himself washed up.

"Ah gotta go, ducks. Our great Div of a leader's gonna want us doon there soon. Take care of yeself, ya wee daftie, awright?"

Remy laughed at Jono's words.

"Awright, Cher. I'll see you dis af'ernoon, n'est-pas?"

"Oui, mate." Jono replied as he reached out and lightly laid his hand on Remy's shoulder before taking off to his room.

He didn't give a damn about being late for any training sessions, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with Scott when he got into the fearless leader mode. The bloke was enough of a ponce already and when he got into his leader mode, he was even worse to deal with. He was a downright twit and he didn't want for his morning to get ruined. Especially not after that dream he had. The one with the subtitles….

Grinning slightly, he went into the hallway and was walking down to his room when he noticed Logan standing at his doorway with a curiously neutral expression on his face.

"Mornin' mate." Jono greeted him cautiously. He was sure that the Canadian bloke didn't care that he was sharing Rem's room during the night and that they were spending an awful lot of time together; yet he was still very careful and wary around the bloke. There was some kind of…scent? Emotion? Thought? That he put out that always made Jono either feel guilty or afraid. Of what, he wasn't really sure and he was damned if he was gonna stop and ask the bloke that.

Wolverine grunted a greeting and Jono simply shrugged. As long as the old bloke wasn't going aggro on him and Remy, he didn't care whether he was up for a chat up or not. Besides, he needed to get ready. Didn't want to get too out of shape after all.

He had reached his door when the Canadian finally spoke.

_"Hey Bub."_ Jono's head jerked up at the sudden start of the unexpected conversation.

_"Yeah mate?"_

_"It's not my business that you're with Gumbo. I'm just gonna tell you that he's not good for another double-crossing, so try not to do that if you can. Or I'll make sure you do regret it."_ Logan punctuated that warning with a tilt and a flexing of his hands that made Jono sneer.

_"I ain't an utter plonker, mate. I know what's at stake wif 'im. But thanks for the 'eads up all the same. Now I gotta scarper lest the fearless leader goes mental on me, awright? _Jono told him as he opened the door of his room.

_"Good to hear. It'll help that one of you is alert when it comes to the girl."_ Logan reminded him, his face deathly serious as he "spoke".

Jono was saved from replying by Remy showing up and his own runner from the hall.

Once inside his room, he stripped his track trousers and his shirt and climbed into the shower, his goal only on getting ready on time.

Once he was more or less presentable, he headed down to the Danger Room and found that he had just squeaked in, the icicle taking the honors from him by arriving several minutes later and earning the lecturing wrath of their Divving leader. He started warming up, his mind tuning the lecture out until it was time for him to begin to focus on the training that was planned for that day.

"Begin." The simulation began and Jono's mind went into training mode, everything else pushed in the back of his mind.

The fight was all that mattered at that point.

"Ye're getting better, kid." Logan grunted as he rubbed his head where Remy had belted him with his bo staff. It was true he hadn't really been on his guard when they had started the training session, since he didn't want to overwhelm him. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. He had wanted to train him gradually and get him used to fighting blind, but that hit made him want to press him lest he got bored. He knew that the other man had had some kind of training when he was younger, but he was sure that it had atrophied in the recent years. He had been worried that it had atrophied to the point of being useless, but that hit had proved otherwise. He didn't blame him for the hit or for slacking in keeping up with that part of his training, since there wasn't really a reason to train blind. No one ever saw it. Lest of all Remy himself.

"Y' thin' so, mon ami?" Remy asked as he twirled his staff a couple of times and did a few fighting moves as he waited for Logan to give him further guidance.

"You scored a good hit on me. I wasn't expecting that, to tell you the truth." Logan admitted as he rotated his neck and popped a few vertebrae. "You're not as bad off as I thought, Bub. We should have you up and being able to take care of yourself completely after this. Begin again." He instructed as he then got into a fighting stance and waited for Remy's move.

Remy didn't move for a few moments, letting Logan take advantage and rush him. He had meant to sweep Remy's feet under him and then pin him down. Simple. But Remy had somehow picked up the hint and had leapt over Logan, managing to kick him in the head and spin away with his staff in one move. Logan's head snapped back and he staggered a few feet before regaining his balance and striking out again, this time catching Remy in the side. Remy let out a grunt and struck out with the staff, scoring only a glancing hit before Logan came back full-force and kicked his right knee out from under him. Remy fell to his knee and was about to lash out when he felt Logan's claw against his throat.

"Game over kid." Logan told him, ending that sparring match.

"Foutre." Remy said as the other man retracted his claw and helped him up.

"That was better than the other time. You want to go again?"

Remy nodded, running a hand through his hair which had become clumped in long thick hanks from the perspiration and the moisture in the air.

"Oui. I wan' te take care of meself again. I…" Logan had gone to the far edge of the clearing he had chosen to spar with Remy and had missed why the younger man had stopped in mid-sentence. When he got back, he saw that Remy was-staring- for a lack of a better word at the bare ground, his hands wrapped tightly around his bo.

"Gumbo? Hey, Remy? What's wrong kid?" Logan asked quietly, not wanting the other man to lash out. "Remy? Hey, Remy!"

The kid shook his head to snap out of whatever it was that he had seen. Although Logan had known about the Cajun's divination powers and had been helped by them in the past, he had never seen them at work. Seeing the way that the kid's features were drawn in concentration made him wonder whether it was more a curse than an actual blessing as ol' fearless had hinted at.

"Eh?" he asked, his mind still not in the present at that point.

"What did you see?"

Remy's mouth thinned into a tight line and for a split second, Logan wondered if he would refuse to say anything. Most of the time, he shared the visions without prompting, since they usually held much needed information for missions. But this time, it seemed that they had hit too close to home and it was more than likely that he would keep his mouth shut. That kid was about as closed-mouthed as the Jesuits when it came to keeping something under wraps.

"Can ye do me a favour, ami?" Remy asked, his head turning to face Logan, his ruined eyes so intense that they made Logan's objections fade in the sunlight.

"Sure."

"Train de boy."

"What?"

"De boy. Chamber. Train him for me. He needs to know more dan the others can teach him and he needs to know soon." Remy explained in a clipped tone as he turned and headed back to the mansion.

"Why, Gumbo. What's the hurry?"

"De boy and Rogue. It wasn't clear, but there's something gonna happen and I don' want for him to be unprepared."

Logan frowned at the answer.

"You think that she'd do something to Jono?"

"I don' know that much. She be a bit possessive of this Cajun, even though she's not wanting him in her life." Remy pointed out to the older Canadian, who snorted in agreement. He personally was neutral when it came to Rogue. As long as they could watch each other's backs, he wasn't really concerned about her. But he kept watch and knew exactly what the Cajun was talking about. Although she may not have been in his bed, or touching him all over, she was one jealous and possessive woman. She was like a child that ignored her favourite toys until someone else wanted to play with them and she wasn't shy about letting the other person know that they were after her property.

"I'll train him. He needs more than a fighting chance if anything comes up."

Remy nodded his thanks and both men returned to the mansion, the training definitely done for that day.

Jono was sitting up on the roof, staring out at the view that the vantage point offered. For once he didn't feel like hiding out in his room and being melodramatic with the help of The Mission or the Church. But that was as far as he was willing to concede. He still didn't care to talk to anyone else except Rems and occasionally Logan, since he felt like he was standing behind a glass panel that distorted everything that other people said to him. He had tried to break through that indifference, but it had remained firmly in place. Especially when he had occasionally heard whispered comments or faint thoughts that concerned Gambit and more often than not had some hidden insult or disparaging remark in them. So he had stopped making the effort. Hypocrisy wasn't high on his like list, so he let it go. He'd fight in battle with them and watch their backs, but he wouldn't interact with them unless he was forced to. Bloomin' bastards.

"Takin' over my spot, cher?" Rems voice drawled out as he sat down beside him. Instantly, his mood lightened.

"Nah. Keepin' it warm for ye luv." Jono replied, turning to face Rems, who was sitting comfortably beside him, his legs occasionally waving back and forth as if he was a lad.

"That's good." Remy replied softly, making Jono worry.

"Wot's up luv? Ye don' sound too cheery up." Jono asked, making Remy cringe. Despite having empathy, he was loath to use it with Jono, feeling that it would be like lying to the younger man. Something he wanted to avoid at all costs, since not only was Jono one of his few allies; he was someone that he was only willing to more recently and only privately admit that he wanted in both the emotional and carnal sense.

He didn't want to worry Jono, but he also knew he needed to hear the truth. Or at least the version he needed to hear. It wouldn't do for the kid to not know the possible danger looming in the future. The other stuff could be told to him later. Once the problems had been taken care of.

"I 'ad a vision today, when I was training with Logan." Remy finally told him after several minutes of silent deliberation.

"Oh. What did ye see, ducks?" Jono asked his voice low and steady as he asked.

"Stay away from Rogue, cher." Remy replied, his hands clenching around the hem of Jono's black trench so tightly that the knuckles were white.

Jono's left eyebrow shot up at the unexpected warning Remy was giving him.

"Wot did ye see, mush?" he asked once again, his voice hardly higher than a whisper as he carefully reached over and placed his hand over Rem's and began to rub the knuckles with his thumb in slow circles to calm him down.

"I don't really know." Remy finally admitted, his head dropping down on his chest, his eyes hidden by his long bangs. "I only saw confused images. Of ye, of 'er. Of me. Nothin' made sense. Je ne sais qu'cest-que je vu." He whispered.

"Wot? Ye don' know what ye really saw?" Jono asked, muddling through the last sentence with difficulty.

"Non. All I know is that Rogue…" He trailed off, not wanting to tell him anymore.

"So I gotta make a runner when I see the slag, is that it?" Jono asked, his mouth turning down, making him look cruel and lethal. The feeling was so strong that Remy's other hand moved up to his face to smooth the lines away.

"Oui. In not such 'arsh terms, cher." Rems replied as he gently stroked Jono's face, savouring the warmth that was always there, right underneath the flesh due to his psi fire.

They were silent for a few moments before Remy spoke up.

"I've asked Logan to train you, cher." Jono frowned.

"Ye think it's that bad then, ducks?"

"Ye don' know the femme's temper like I do. I wan' you to be prepared in case anythin' 'appens. I can't predict what she would do."

"Why wool' the slag care? I mean, we've been chummin' about for wot? Months now and she's done or said nowt. Why would this time be different?"

Remy bit his lip and closed his eyes.

"She still t'inks of me as hers. She gets possessive when she thinks there's a threat to 'er claim over me, cher." Remy whispered, silently begging Jono to let it drop.

"Wot? Ye ain't a toy, luv. Nor are ye her personal ken doll. Ye're yer own being, luv. Don' let 'er have that much power over ye. Especially not when she's not even worth a couple a quid, considerin' the way she treated ye." Jono spat out, his voice harsh with anger on Remy's behalf.

Remy smiled and let out a sigh of bitter agreement.

"'Sides, why woold she feel threat'ned by me? I'm jes' some scrawny Brit that can throw fire and blow up the kerb. I ain't nothin' special."

_"Non, cher. Vous l'etes. Especialment a moi." _Remy thought quietly to himself, not wanting to let Jono know how deep his emotions towards him had grown in the past while that they had spent together.

"Don' say that, cher. Ye're very special." Remy whispered to him, his hand cupping his cheek slightly for a few moments before it moved to ruffle up the long hair.

"I'm starvin' cher. Say we get sometin' to eat?" the Cajun asked as he disentangled himself from Jono lest he pick up enough clues to call him up on his unspoken emotions.

"Yeah mate. Anythin' sounds good right now. Ye need to clean up?" Jono asked, his face and hand still throbbing with the heat that Rems' touch brought up in him.

"Oui. Tu aussi?" Remy asked and immediately clamped down on the half-finished image of a naked and soapy Jono in the shower lest the other man catch it. Although he knew Jono was polite enough to not prod, he knew that the feelings it brought up were so strong that he could have picked it up by accident.

"Nah. Got a bath before I came up. It's jest you luv. Come on." Jono said as he stood up and held out his hand to help Remy up, who took the offer not because he needed to, but because it would give him an excuse to touch Jono yet again. It was as if his body craved touching the other man, that he would go into withdrawal if his fingertips didn't brush up against the alabaster skin at least once within the hour.

They got up and walked down to Remy's room in companionable silence, where Jono told Remy that he had to fetch his wallet and his keys, leaving Remy alone and grateful. Once he was alone, the Cajun quickly stripped and got into the shower, only to stand against the cool spray as he thought about Jono's dark eyes and the fierce expression in them when he had told Remy that he was special in his own brand of English.

_Ye got it bad, Lebeau. Really bad. Even with the femme, it was nothin' this strong_ He thought and sighed as he grabbed the soap and began to clean off the day's grime.

In the room a couple of doors down, Jono was stuffing his wallet into his pocket and thinking about his and Rems recent interaction. He didn't want to look for more than what was already there, but he couldn't help thinking that there was a new and different element present in their friendship.

_"Cor, luv. Ye're makin' me mute. Can' tell ye…bloomin' feck…Doan matter. I ain't gonna let any shite or that bloody slag get in the way. I doan wan' to make the same mistake twice. Especially wif ye luv Now where are those feckin' keys? _Jono thought as he searched for his keys. His wallet had already been stuffed into his pocket, but his keys had gone MIA. He tried to concentrate on finding the damned things, but the fact that Rems was takin' a bath was playin' havoc with his mind and hormones as he tried to keep the images and the lust at bay.

Finally, after several excruciating minutes, he found both his sanity and his keys and waited until Rems came and knocked him up.

"Ready cher?" Remy asked as Jono opened the door and stepped out in the hall.

"Yeah Luv. I've got me keys. Let's do a runner."

"Remind me to do this more often." Jono told Rems as they lay on a hill underneath several trees. The park was deserted at that time due to the lateness of the afternoon and the encroaching cold weather. It wasn't cold enough to be miserable, but cold enough to keep most of the normal people away.

They had gone and eaten supper at a quiet, Slavic café that served good food and even better coffee. They had stayed in the café, savoring both the food and the quiet inviting atmosphere until it got too crowded for it to be comfortable any longer. The more people that had shown up, the more that their conversation had stilted. After sitting in silence for over ten minutes, it was then that Jono had suggested for them to go somewhere else. That somewhere else ended up being the park that Jono had occasionally gone to before when he was living away from the Mansion when he had debated whether to return.

Remy laughed and sat up, his eyes crinkled up as he smiled down at Jono, who was lying on his back watching the hazy autumn clouds drift through the sky.

"Mmmhm. Oui. It's a bonne temp indeed." Rems agreed, his hand automatically running through Jono's hair as they sat enjoying the solitude.

"Right. Any plans for tonight, ducks?" Jono asked, closing his eyes and enjoying Rems running his hands through his hair. He had thought about cutting his hair a few weeks back, since it was getting fairly long and there were waay too many times when he had woken up with Rems on his hair, pinning him in usually very uncomfortable positions. But when Rems ran his hands through his hair, it was all worth it.

"Ye got any ideas, cher?' Remy asked as he flopped down and lay on his side, his hands now traveling down Jono's back, making him shiver in sheer contentment.

"Nah. Jus' being 'ere is good mate. Doan want to go back to the mansion just yet." He mumbled as he unconsciously moved closer to Remy.

They lay there quietly with Rems rubbing small circles on Jono's back, making the other man sigh in contentment and actually move closer to Remy. He didn't need to have the body heat, since his psi fire kept him warm, but the need to be closer to the source of his pleasure made it all a moot point. He moved until he was practically curled up under Remy's chin, the only barrier between them being his arms crossed in front of him.

He didn't know how long they lay there, only that Remy's hand slowed down until it finally rested on his back as a comforting weight. He was so close to falling asleep when he sensed Remy move down so that they were facing each other rather than him being above. Jono didn't think much about it, since his mind was fuzzy with sleep and also since Rems was simply lying there beside him, probably half-asleep himself.

They lay there in a peaceful détente, both of them not totally conscious when Remy moved close enough to Jono for him to feel his breath on his lips. He blinked drowsily at the other bloke and was about to speak to him when Rems mouth found his.

His eyes closed for a bit as he responded, his mouth opening up to receive Remy's tongue. He should have started questioning himself as to why he was being so docile. After all, this wasn't what he wanted to happen. To have this added complication in their lives was probably the wrong thing to do. There were too many chances that they would both end up burned.

But once Remy's kiss had deepened and his body had nestled itself against his, fitting perfectly and naturally, all of his caution went out the window. He returned the kiss, his mouth almost punishing and brutal as his hands scrabbled against Remy's clothes. Once Jono had broken through the barrier of his shirt and jacket, his hands moved over Remy's chest, making the other man moan into his mouth.

Encouraged by the sound, his hands moved down, past the belt and the trousers to cup Remy's erection. Jono smiled at Rems' reaction, which was to grind his hips into Jono's hand. Jono then caressed the bulge and kissed Remy harder, his tongue probing deeper into Remy's mouth, making the other man groan in tormented pleasure.

"Cher, I thin' we need to finish this in 'nother place. Like my room." Remy gasped after they finally broke the kiss.

"Yeah. I doan think I wanna see th' professor's face if we got arrested for public indecency or somefin'." Jono riposted, making Remy snicker softly.

"Oui. It's time dat we went home." The Cajun replied as they disentangled their bodies and made themselves presentable for the ride home.

"Rems?" Jono asked once they began walking to the car.

"Oui?"

"Ye awright?"

"Oui."

Logan silently climbed the stairs to the third floor. It was twenty minutes past ten and Logan was getting tired of waiting for his sparring partner to show up. He had other things to take care of and if he knew ol' fearless as well as he thought, there would be more tasks to fill the rest of his day.

Frowning as he thought about what the other tasks could be, he was startled to find Rogue at the top of the stairs, he fists clenched at her sides as she stood staring at Remy's door.

"Morning." He grunted at her, making her start a bit. "It seems there's a line-up to see Gumbo this morning." He observed blandly. Rogue shot him a look, but he didn't react. He wasn't there to pick a fight with her. Whatever she was doing there was her business. Just like him going to see Remy was his business.

"Ah..Ah..jes' wanted to talk to 'im and Ah was hoping Ah coul' do dat before it got busy aroun' 'ere." She explained, her gloved hand pushing a thick lock of brown and white streaked hair away from her face.

Logan grunted at that. "Yeah. Kid was supposed to be downstairs at ten. I'm just comin' to remind him of it. Won't take long." Rogue's eyes flickered with something dark that went through so fast that he had to wonder whether he had really seen it or not. He turned away, vowing that he would think about it later when he had more time to do so. But for now, he had more pressing things to take care of.

He raised his hand and banged on the door.

"Gumbo! We've got training today! You comin' or what?" He practically bellowed.

There was no verbal response to the order. Only the shuffling of covers being thrown away and clothes being put on in a hurry before the door finally was swung open.

"Oi, mate. Sorry 'bout that. Lost track of time." Jono apologized to Logan sheepishly as he pulled up the collar of the shirt that was slipping down his shoulder as he spoke.

"He's getting' ready right now, mate." Jono told him, not aware that Rogue was standing right behind Logan with her nails practically digging into her palms as she did so.

Logan grunted in reply. He knew that Jono and Remy had gotten close and he could often smell their scents mixed on each other if he came across them in the morning, so Jono opening the door wasn't a big shock to him at all. What shocked him was the heady scent of sex emanating from the kid. It wasn't thick or strong, but it was there, like expensive cologne and he was willing to bet that Gumbo would smell the same too.

His attention was diverted by Rogue finally getting fed up and rushing downstairs, her shoes clattering heavily on the stairs, making both men's heads turn to the stairs.

There was silence between them that lasted until Rems showed up.

"Rogue was here non?" he asked softly, his hand searching for Jono's for comfort.

"Yeah mate. I think we've bollocksed up." Jono sighed as he squeezed Rem's hand.

"She was bound to find out. Not a great way for her to have done so, but it's done. Let's go. We've wasted enough time today already." Logan reminded them abruptly.

"Oi, ye want me to come along?"

Logan raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Ye wan' to spend the day trying to avoid Rogue in the mansion?"

Jono winced.

"Lead the way, mate."

Bobby was surprised to find Rogue standing in the kitchen, her arms wrapped around her body was she stared out the large windows. He would have assumed that she was lost in thought if it hadn't been for the tense lines her shoulders and head were set at.

"Rogue?" the woman flinched at Bobby's voice, but she didn't even indicate that she had noticed Bobby was there until he had come within two feet away from her.

"Is something the matter, Rogue?" Bobby tried tentatively.

Rogue's head turned enough for Bobby to look at her profile and nothing else.

"Ah went to try and talk to him this mornin', to see whether we could work things out, but he was already there, with that English boy." Rogue told him, her voice composed and mechanic as she told Bobby what she had seen that morning.

Bobby only let out a low whistle when he was told that.

"Ouch. Sorry to hear it." He apologized as he made his way to the coffee maker. Pulling out a mug from the cupboard, he poured himself a cup and tried not to wince at the bitter taste of the warm coffee.

Rogue laughed humorlessly and turned to look out the window again. Following her gaze, he nearly spit out his coffee when he saw what Rogue had been watching so intently.

Although they were partially hidden by the trees surrounding the mansion, he could see two tall and lean figures standing under the autumn foliage. Two figures that seemed perfect and completely entranced in their own world at that moment. That he could tell by the way that Jono was cradling Remy's face as they kissed, the way that Remy was holding onto the other man, even the expressions of tenderness on their faces. All of it made Bobby see why Rogue was so entranced and so bitter. They had fought long and hard, those two, but it never seemed to work out. No matter what happened: Whether they had found some fix, or had reached a level of understanding, they seemed to be doomed to not be blessed with any kind of permanent happiness.

And now, after everything, it was all gone. All of it taken away by a seemingly unremarkable and sharp-tongued kid with the thickest Cockney accent he had heard outside of British gangster flicks.

It had to hurt.

He wished he could say something to her, but at that moment, he was completely at a loss. He knew how much losing love hurt. After all, he had lost both Lorna and Annie and had to watch as they were happy with Alex Summers. It had hurt deeply. But there was nothing he could have done any different.

All he could tell her was that in time, it wouldn't hurt as bad. In time, it would be faded memories and that in time, she would find someone that would make her feel as perfect as Remy was feeling with Jono.

"Rogue…"

"Don't say anythin', Bobby. Just…don't." Rogue cut him off sharply before walking out of the kitchen.

Bobby only shrugged as he took another sip of his coffee and watched as Jono and Remy disappeared deeper into the woods.

"I hope it's worth it for both of you." He thought as he turned away from the window, knowing full well that Jono and Remy would probably pay a high price for the little happiness they had managed to find.

"I think I coul' be 'appy at this time." Jono whispered to Rems as they lay in the big four-poster bed in a tangle of limbs and blankets.

Remy laughed a low, throaty laugh that made Jono smile to himself and pull Remy closer.

"Why?"

"Why do y' think, ducks? I'm in a nice bed, I'm warm and I'm next to ye. What else can I ask for?" Jono asked the older man.

"Uhm…no sneakin' around Rogue?" Remy replied mischievously.

Jono laid there, utterly stunned. They hadn't spoken about Rogue at all after that day that she had tried to talk to Remy and the other man had said nothing about her appearance at all. In fact, they had avoided each other as much as possible, which was actually a fairly easy thing to do since they not only kept different schedules. That was due to Remy, Jono and Logan training in the afternoon and going out till late in the night while Rogue trained early in the day and was at home and asleep or in her room, which was in a different floor and far away from Remy and Jono's rooms. So far, after five weeks, it seemed to have worked. But they all knew the détente would eventually end. When, it was anyone's guess. A guess none of them cared to make.

"Shocked a bit, Cher?"

"Owch. I don' know what's worse. The fact that ye made the jest, or the fact that ye made it aboot yer fomer missus." Jono observed when he was finally recovered enough from the shock. Remy shrugged.

"Jes' trying to keep the mood light, Cher. I don' mean nothin' by it."

"Yeah. I know. It's just that I've not really heard ye talk about the bird, ya know? Ye've kept mum about 'er and to 'ear ye just casually come up with that, kinda took me back a bit, ye ken?"

A sigh followed that quiet observation. Then silence for several minutes that Jono thought was going to last for the rest of the time they opted to lie there when Remy spoke.

"At first I stopped speaking about her because it hurt too much. No matter how many times it has happened before, it still hurts when we break it off. Before, I wouldn't have remained silent. I would have gone on, pretended nothing was wrong, hiding how much it tore me up inside to know that no matter how much I gave of myself to her, it wasn't enough. It was never enough for her.

I know she wants to not have to deal with her powers. I know how lonely it can be, being shut out of the world like she is. Always on the outside looking in, knowing full well that it must grate to be so alone with so many people around her. I also know that there's nothing else I can do for her. That is unless I want to be the supporting role in the tragedy she writes for herself."

Remy sighed and Jono took a while to digest the quiet, articulate words that were pouring out of his lover's mouth, as if he had been waiting for years to finally say them out loud after crafting them so carefully. He knew that at some point in time Remy had probably sat down and thought about himself and Rogue, yet he never thought that the other man had really been that thorough. And not because he was lazy or stupid, but simply because it would have been like slicing his soul to pieces and then putting the pieces back in some semblance of a picture to figure out where the points had diverged and messed everything beyond actual repair.

"I thought, especially after they found out what I had done, that I should stay beside her. Despite the way she felt about me. That I was the one to stand beside her and love her, even though on some level, I suspected it wasn't going to last. But I let her in. Fell in love with her. Only to have her throw it back in my face time and time again, letting her feed my own self-loathing."

Jono had nearly stopped breathing when Remy told him this, wincing at how coolly collected the voice was. How accepting of everything it was and it scared him somewhat. How defeatist. How dead it sounded.

"I thought…after the whole thing with Destiny's diaries, and us losing our powers that things would work out. After all, the barrier between us was breached. We could touch, we could be together. We could be normal and then we got our powers back. Fine. I thought we could deal. Then I was blind. And once again, it happened. Just like the last time, just like it would eventually happen again. But she didn't come to me, and in time, I found that I didn't want to go to her and then when you touched my hand that night in the woods, I stopped thinking about her or her tragedy altogether."

Jono blinked, not really expecting to hear that come from Remy. It had all been tacit understanding and subtle clues between them. Nothing was really said outright. Despite their understanding of each other, they were still mute around each other when it came to that aspect of their relationship. Nothing deep was said. Always, it was implied.

_"Why? Wot was so special about me, ducks?"_ He asked telepathically, wanting to at least be able to not have to voice anything upon such an important topic out-loud.

_"You made me realize that love could be different. That it didn't have to be a painful purgatory. That it could be born out of a solid friendship. That it could make me weep with happiness and that I don't have to stand in the rain pretending I'm not crying. That it could be safe." _Remy returned back, the thoughts creating a soft glow in his head, making his eyes prickle with the moisture that was gathered at the corner of his eyes.

"Ehm…shite, Rems. Christ…" he turned away and bit his lip, not willing to let Remy see him cry, even though he knew it was pointless to hide it.

"Christ…that's all I can' say luv. Ye're makin' me mute. So many words…yet they don't come close to it…Shite Rems…I'd feckin' die…ye know that? I'd die if ye weren't around luv. It woul' kill not to have ye…Christ…'m feckin…"

_"Oui, Je le sais. I know, cher. I know." _

The silence that followed was punctuated by a few sniffs and occasional grab at Kleenex.

"Rems?"

"Yeah?"

"I love ye, ye know that, right?"

"Oui. Just like y' know I love ye?"

"Absofuckinglutely."

"Shouldn't ye wish me luck, luv?" Jono asked teasingly as he quickly pulled his black jacket over his uniform.

"Why, Cher? I know y're goin' to be fine." Remy grinned back from the bed he was sitting on, expertly shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. Jono watched him flip the cards over and over again and silently thanked his stars that his lover wasn't as put out as he had been in the past when missions had come up. He knew it would have rankled the man to be left behind with all the kids, after all his years of fighting to be relegated to the sidelines. But he had taken the change more magnanimously now that they had been going out for a few months. That change made Jono wonder if it was the link that had been built between them, which in a way gave Rems a precarious view of the missions Jono went on. That and the mind-blowing sex that they had after every mission. If it was, hell, he wasn't complaining. It made things much more clearer, since they just **knew** the times to push, or to remain silent. Words were great, but they could be misleading at times, hence the reason why he didn't mind the warm glow the connection made in his head.

Right now though, he wished it wasn't there, since he could definitely taste his lover's amused smirking, which although cute, it did have the potential to get annoying.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, luv." Jono snorted as he sat down on their bed and laced up his boots.

"It's a small mission, cher. I know y' can handle it." Remy replied as he then leaned over and nuzzled into his lover's neck and inhaling the musky, warm vanilla scent that seemed the strongest there. Once he had had his fill of inhaling his scent, he licked at the soft flesh, making Jono moan quietly.

"Mmm. Yeah. It shoul' be easy. I wonder if the Div of the leader would notice if I bunked off." Jono murmured as he tilted his neck for Gambit to get better access.

"Not a chance bub. Get going. We leave in five." Logan growled, suddenly appearing in the doorway, making Remy laugh softly.

"Thanks luv. Glad to see ye're having yerself a bobble at my expense."

"I plead the Fifth."

"I'm British, Luv. The Fifth means SFA to me."

"Are you two love-birds done smooching there?"

"Yeah Yeah. I 'eard ye bellow the first time." Jono shot back, making Remy have to bury his face in the crook of his lover's neck to muffle his laughter.

"Catch ye in a few luv." Jono said as he walked out of the bedroom, giving him one last look before he went.

"Oi! Wasn't this supposed to be somefin' small, mate?" Jono yelled as he released another powerful psi blast at one of the Sentinels that had broke formation. They were downtown in Philly and had received word that a splinter from the FOH had incited a riot. What they didn't expect were the Sentinels who were now tearing up the downtown core and the buildings in that area, forcing the team to first disperse and arrest the leaders of the group before taking care of the sentinels before they wrecked the city completely. Which meant fighting them from the top down.

"Can you say setup, bub?" Wolverine growled as he worked to dice the other one that was coming up to him. With moves too quick to actually register, Wolverine had leapt up from the roof of the four-story building they were at and slashed out the chest of the robot.

"Ye're all gonna talk or fight?" Rogue grunted as she punched out the Sentinel that Wolverine had disabled.

"Oi! I can do both at the same time, lass. Trust me when I say it ain't gonna go up further t' queer-street." Jono assured her as he gave out several quick psi blasts in succession, making the original Sentinel he was fighting go down in a mass of charred and burning metal to prove his point to Rogue, who only sneered at him and flew away. Jono watched her and shrugged. As long as she didn't drag anything from their personal lives into the battlefield, he couldn't care less.

"Remind me again why do we always end up fighting these things on the roofs of buildings?" Alex muttered to Polaris, who was busy controlling the magnetic waves to disable two Sentinels at a time while her ex-boyfriend took another one out with his plasma blast.

"I'm pretty sure it's a rule of physics that must be written down somewhere." Lorna replied absentmindedly as she hurled the robots against another building. "Remind me to look it up when we get in."

"Look wot up?" Jono asked as he came up behind him.

"Physics laws." Alex muttered as he directed another plasma blast to another Sentinel, who resisted the attack and was coming forward to collect them.

"I'll take this one." Jono announced as he let loose several psi bolts in quick succession.

"A few more left." Alex announced and he turned to deal with them, confident that if Jono couldn't deal with that one Sentinel, Lorna could. Or Rogue or Wolverine.

"Feckin' bastard!!" Jono swore as the Sentinel kept coming. He knew he had to act quickly and concentrated on releasing a large psi blast to decimate the robot when it jarred violently as it received a powerful blow from behind, making it buckle and topple over.

"Shite! It's gone up queer street now!" Jono swore as he finally released the blast, catching the shoulder and the head and blowing it off. The debris fell and Jono swore as he jumped clear to avoid it. But not clear enough to avoid the rest of the body.

Too late, he watched it fall. He scrambled to get away until he nearly fell off the edge of the building.

"Whoah!" He exclaimed, nearly losing his balance as he stood precariously on the ledge. Once he had regained his balance, he looked up and saw the metal making its inevitable ascent and Rogue up in the sky, watching.

He had opened his mouth to ask her to catch him, but his foot was already slipping off the ledge. He only had time to scream as he felt himself falling, hurtling through the air with only his shock and the memory of those cold green eyes watching his descent before pain wracked every inch of his body and the darkness came up to swallow him.

He knew that a shadow he had sensed earlier had fallen when the mansion had exploded in a burst of activity once the blackbird had come back. He heard the bustle of activity, but he didn't move. All he did was close his eyes. He knew what had happened, had felt the sharpness of Jono's fear and then the low, painful throbbing in the back of his mind that told him Jono was still with him.

He knew he should have gone downstairs and gone to see how Jono was, but he couldn't. He needed time to reconcile himself with the fact that the vision had come true. Needed a bit of time to start mourning alone and without anyone looking for a sign of weakness. He didn't know how long he sat there, clutching at the blanket that still held the intermingled scents of their bodies when someone knocked on the door.

Logan.

"Gumbo?"

"Somethin' happened to him, didn't it?" Remy asked in a low voice as he stood up from the bed and walked to the door way, carelessly placing the cards down on the desk on his way there.

Logan frowned and turned his head away to not look in the kid's eyes when he told him the news.

"We were fightin' the Sentinels. The FOH splinter group sicced 'em on us. Kid was fighting well, but one got away from him."

Remy closed his eyes briefly.

"He fell from the buildin'. Four stories. I don't know how he did it, but he's alive." Logan felt it would be wise to omit the "barely" part. No one knew how he managed to still be alive after such a fall.

Remy nodded and wrapped his arms around his body as if to ward off a deep chill before walking past Logan, only one thought in his mind: To see his lover as soon as possible.

"C'n I go in, Hank?" a severely composed Gambit asked the blue-furred doctor once he had made it to the Medlab.

"Remy…I expected you down here once you heard of Mr.Starsmores' condition, but not this soon." Hank noted as he wiped up his hands.

"Why not? Are ye still workin' on 'im? Is it that bad?" Remy asked, his voice flat as he spoke.

"Yes. It is."

Remy raked his fingers through his hair and wrapped his arms tightly around his body to stop it from shaking.

"He's..he's..not gonna die, is he?" Remy whispered, making the doctor sigh.

"I cannot say at this stage for sure." The doctor replied quietly. Remy nodded and wrapped his arms tighter around himself.

"When can y' say?"

"If you can give me a day, then I will be able to tell you what will happen with certainty. Will you give me those twenty-four hours?"

Remy stood there for several moments before giving a deep sigh.

"Y' have them." Remy whispered hoarsely before turning and walking out of the Medlab, leaving Logan and Hank staring after him.

"Don't worry bub. I'll keep an eye on Gumbo. You work on the kid." Logan ordered his teammate, who nodded and went back inside the sterile operating room where Jono was clinging precariously to life.

Remy stood outside, his hand on a tree as he fought not to give in to the panic welling up in his chest. The link was pulsing erratically and he was worried that at any second it would simply snap and he was going to be left empty and alone.

_Please, please, please, don' let 'im die. Please Hank. _he thought as his fingers curled around the trunk of the tree, his nails digging into the bark.

He didn't know how long he stood there, his nails digging into the bark whenever the link's pulse weakened so much that he was sure it was lost when he felt someone walk up to him.

"What do y' want?" he asked bluntly, making the other person pause.

"Ah jes' wanted to talk to y' sugah." Rogue said in a low voice, making Remy snort and shake his head.

"There's nothin' fer us to talk about, so if ye'll excuse me." Remy cut her off before turning away from her and heading back to the mansion.

"Remy, wait. Ah jes'…"

"No, Rogue. I don' want to talk to ye. Jus' leave me alone, Rogue. Y've been doing that fairly well for the last seven months."

"Remy, Don' be like this sugah." Rogue protested, her temper straining at the unexpected resistance that the other man was putting up and once again she cursed that stupid child for taking any chances she had to talk to him away.

Remy turned his head and laughed harshly at her words.

"How should I be Rogue? Jono's close to dyin' an' all I can do is wait to see whether he's gonna live or not. So you tell me ex'ctly 'ow shoul' I be?" He practically spat at her.

"Can' ye spare some time to talk?" Rogue pressed on. It wasn't that she wanted to be cruel, or that she was ignoring Jono's injuries. Rather, she saw her chance and she wanted to make it worthwhile.

"'bout what? We have nothin' to talk about, Rogue. Ye made it painfully clear that we're over, so jes' let me be."

"Remy, do ye 'ate me that much?"

Remy laughed hollowly at her words.

"Rogue, Jono is hurt. He coul' **die**. He's the only person I'm feelin' anythin' about right now."

"Ye don' mean that, Remy. Ah know ye…"

"No. Ye **don**' and that's the whole point. It's been over between us for close to a year. We aren' gonna get back together again. I'm sorry if ye thought it was gonna be the same. I'm with Jono now, that's all there's to it. Now leave me alone and go on wit yer life, cause I've already done it." Remy interrupted her, his voice weary as he walked away from her, leaving her standing there.

"Remy! Remy!" She called at his back. But he kept on moving away from her, not once turning his head to acknowledge her.

She watched him walk away, still stunned at his words to her before she gathered her wits about her and followed him. Only to be stopped by Logan, who eyed her warily.

"Let it go girl. He's not yours." Logan ordered her, his voice neutral as he took a drag from his cigar.

"Ah…"

"Save it girl. He's got someone else now. Learn to live with it." He ordered her before turning away to follow Remy to the mansion.

Rogue watched them leave, not letting them out of her sight until they had stepped into the mansion. Once the door had closed behind them did she finally float into the sky and fly into her room where she landed on her bed and grabbed a stuffed animal to curl up with.

"It wasn' supposed to end like this." She whispered into the soft fur.

"Hey, Gumbo..Gumbo. Wake up." Remy jerked awake and sat up, batting the hand that shook him awake away.

"I'm up." He replied, getting up from the Med-lab bench he had been grabbing a few hours of sleep before he got up to pester Hank about Jono again. Although the link was steady, it was still very weak. It gave him hope that Jono was going to pull through, but he didn't want to get his hopes up until he had Hank's word on the matter.

"Did you sleep well, Remy?" Hank asked as he walked forward and sat down next to the younger man.

"What's the verdict, homme?" Gambit asked in a coolly neutral voice, making Hank wince.

"Mr. Starsmore's going to live. But he will have a long road to recovery. His injuries are very serious."

Remy's eyes narrowed. "How serious?"

"I'm not sure if he's going to walk again."

End.


End file.
